Beacon brief: Saturday, October 3, 2026

Aramco is pumping close to 6 million barrels a day through the 7 million barrel-a-day East-West pipeline, up from about half of capacity earlier in the week, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on October 2. About 4.5 million barrels a day is available for export after supplying west-coast refineries. Yanbu loadings resumed on September 30, when industry sources put throughput near 2 million barrels a day and Kpler estimated 2.65 million. Aramco and the energy ministry did not comment.¹

Canada designated Pacific Link, a proposed crude line of up to 1,250 km from Bruderheim, Alberta, to a terminal near Delta, British Columbia, with capacity of about 1 million barrels a day, as the first project of national interest under the Building Canada Act on October 1, per The Canadian Press. Trans Mountain Corp. would develop, build and operate it with the Alberta government, at an estimated C$35 billion to C$44 billion; Pembina would hold a 10 percent economic stake during construction and Indigenous communities are offered at least 10 percent. The Major Projects Office leads a consolidated review with the Canada Energy Regulator, with a conditions document due by September 1, 2027, per Baird Maritime. The Coldwater Indian Band said it was considering court or other action.^2,3

Carbon Mapper said on October 1 that its Tanager-2 methane satellite, built by Planet Labs, was launched on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission, adding a second Tanager satellite and more frequent revisits. Data goes to the UN IMEO Methane Alert and Response System, and Carbon Mapper says it has published 15,200 methane plumes from 5,400 sources. It cites a May 2026 Tanager-1 detection of about 1,500 kg of methane an hour in Texas that regulators confirmed as a gas gathering pipeline leak, later repaired.⁴